Back to some Human Bunny!
No…I do NOT own ROTG…
"We have to WHAT?!" Tooth shrieked.
Her high pitched scream caused Bunny to lean back as far away, his face a harsh wince as her voice penetrated his eardrums. Pursing his lips in determination, the newly turned human stood up and picked up the chair, strode across the room in long graceful strides, and placed it next to jack. Turning the chair backwards, the green eyed teen sat down facing the front, folding his arms across the back of the chair and placed his chin on top. Jack gave a small giggle at the quiet in the room, but when Tooth turned back to North and continued shrieking the winter spirit looked down at Bunny, his eyebrow raised in question. Bunny saw the expression, and then gave a small chuckle as he made himself comfortable on the chair.
"I never sat next to her before I was human," he said in a conspiratorial whisper "thought it was because of my heightened sense of hearing as a rabbit…but now I realize…she's just that loud."
Jack's blue eyes widened until he began to laugh so hard he snorted. Delighted giggles and gales of laughter reverberated to the ceiling, causing Aster to give a fond smile, his eyes shining at the way Jack had allowed himself to relax around them and just throw his head back and laugh. Sandy stood by, smiling as he made pictures of a tiny Tooth fairy shouting and the voice waves going out from her mouth blowing all the guardians away, and destroying the workshop. Jack and Bunny were both helpless puddles of goo laughing their heads off as the picture show continued showing her eventual destruction of the earth by defeating Goku by yelling at him, and blowing up the planet. Aster could barely breathe, clutching his sides as he gasped for air, snorts of laughter exploding between delirious giggles.
"EXCUSE ME!"
All three froze where they were, and slowly looked up to see the irate face of the tooth fairy floating above them, her eyebrow twitching in frustration, and her tiny fists clenched at her sides. Immediately the boys exchanged guilty looks laced with twinkling eyes brimming with restrained laughter. Tooth pointed an angry finger in their faces, her feathers ruffled, and her teeth gritted with supreme irritation.
"We are having a serious conversation," she hissed in a threatening tone "so I suggest that you take it seriously."
"K," Jack squeaked as his shoulders shook with the effort it took not to burst into another round of giggles.
Bunny was enduring an equal amount of suffering, settling with biting his lips to cage the guffaws within, and merely giving a thumbs up as he struggled to stay quiet.
Sandy however was having no problem with melting into yet another round of silent giggles at the scene, obviously not very frightened of the fuming fairy, but when a guy could put a room of people into a deep sleep with a nod of his head he probably didn't fear much. With a huff, and a flurry of multicolored feathers, Tooth flew across the room and sat herself down next to North crossing her arms and setting her face in an unhappy pout. The three boys exchanged another look, and once again began snickering and snorting, their giggles causing their bodies to shake as they attempted to keep their laughter quiet. North cleared his throat, causing the trio to once again give pause, and after a stern look from Father Christmas, finally settled down and returned their attention to the matter at hand.
"Now," North said his gaze still wary as he watched the boys to ensure they did not fall back into mischief "to reiterate, Pitch turned Bunny completely human, and he is aging as human now. We have until his nineteenth birthday to change him back, or he will lose his memory, and stop being Guardian."
"Question," Jack said raising his hand "how does Pitch even know Bunny's birthday…and why wasn't I told?"
"Why do ya need ta know?" Aster asked with a wry grin.
"Well," Jack huffed with a pout "because I'm the Guardian of Fun, and the fact that you have a birthday coming up is a blatant breach of contract."
"Breach…" Aster fought the chuckles as he cocked his head at the kid "of contract?"
"Yeah!" Jack burst out spreading his arms wide "It's my job to bring fun, and you leaving me out of the loop on extremely important information where I can bring some serious fun is bad enough, but Pitch being allowed to know is just…wrong."
Aster chuckled "Sorry Snowflake," he said ruffling Jack's hair "we never really thought about it before because we're immortal, and it didn't really matter, not until now at least."
"That stinks," Jack pouted crossing his arms again "but that still doesn't answer my question."
"Pitch's power is knowing your darkest fear," Bunny said as if he were teaching a class "the only way to do that is by seeing your memories, and my birthday is in my memories."
"I guess that makes sense," Jack said with an indignant sniff "but that doesn't mean I forgive you for keeping me out of vital information that apparently is ok for Pitch to know…but not me."
"Oh for Manny's sake," Aster sighed rolling his eyes "like I said, we never thought about it because we don't age. If it was more important and something we actually celebrated, I would have told ya."
Jack pursed his lips in an unconvinced pout and sent a sideways glare over to the human Pooka "I acknowledge that fact, but it doesn't make it any better."
North let out a chuckle "After we take care of helping Bunny, we will all tell our birthdays, will that be good?"
The winter spirit made a show of carefully pondering North's words until finally giving a nod with a mischievous grin and sly wink "All is forgiven…IF…you let me throw each of you birthday parties!"
The Guardians shared a fond smile at their youngest member's zeal for Fun, and after all it was his center, and each gave their nod of approval sending Jack hurtling towards the ceiling in an ecstatic whoop. Finally settling back into his chair, Jack waved his hand, gesturing for them to continue "Alright," he grinned "let's get this show on the road, I've got a party to plan!"
"Whatever," Bunny rolled his eyes causing Jack to suddenly notice, the rabbit had been doing that a lot lately.
"Hey Bunny," he whispered.
"What?" Aster whispered back.
"You ok? Your eyes keep coming loose and rolling around your head, I was worried something is wrong." The boy completed said statement with a completely innocent look.
Bunny narrowed green eyes at the boy "What I do with my eyes is none of yer business."
"Ok," Jack shrugged "it must just be the affects of acknowledging that you're actually a kid again, and so you're acting more immature." Jack stopped long enough to grin and clap Bunny on the back "If anything I'm proud of you Cottontail."
"Oh shad'dup," Bunny groaned.
"Can we get back to main reason why we have meeting?" North's exasperated voice cut through any possibility of another fight.
"Ok," Tooth continued, clapping her hands together to gain attention "we know that we only have a certain amount of time before Bunny becomes human permanently, so we need to start brainstorming about how to change him back, any ideas?"
"Actually, yeah," Bunny's deep voice broke in as he stood up and strode to the middle of the room "I've been thinkin', and I believe our best bet will be with the temple on my home planet. It still contains a large amount of ancient Pooka magic, and should be a good place ta focus the energies and create a spell capable of turnin' me back."
"Great," Jack chirped before his face became sullen "the only problem is we don't have a spaceship capable of interstellar flight."
"Sure we do," North bellowed with a smile "we have sleigh, and I have snow globe. Easy, no?"
"Well when you put it that way," Jack nodded slowly.
"Man," Bunny groaned as he hid head face behind his arms and banged his head repeatedly on his forearm "not the deathtrap."
"What do you mean 'deathtrap'," North squawked indignantly crossing his arms in sulky anger "my sleigh has saved your furry hide more times than I count; it is not 'deathtrap'."
Aster stared blithely at him giving a slow blink at North's defense "Whatever ya say, mate."
North chuckled, and ruffled Bunny's head causing the former Pooka to swat his hand away "North," the teen growled in what he hoped was a menacing voice "just 'cuz I look like a kid, don't mean I am one."
"What are you saying Bunny," North laughed loudly grasping Aster's shoulder and giving it a gentle shake "you are still young, and have been son to me for many years. Now that you are human, it is easier to treat you like one, and with Jack becoming Guardian you have younger brother, we are big happy family, no?"
Bunny's mouth fell open as the gears turned struggling to process what North had just proclaimed and concoct an accurate comeback "Uh…" he stammered "Tha's not…I'm not…wait…"
North did not let the newly turned human teen formulate an excuse, but bent down to eye level where Aster sat, and looked his square in the eyes "Bunny," he said softly with a voice glowing with conviction "we are family, and I think of you and Jack as my sons. Please believe me, and though I give you hard time about Christmas, and Easter, you are still a son of whom I am proud and care about a great deal."
Aster felt his chest tighten and his eyes began to sting and burn, looking helplessly to his right, he locked eyes with Jack who merely gave him a wordless smile accompanied by encouraging blue eyes. Jack nodded at him, affirming North's words, and solidifying that they were in fact a family. Being called the son of Santa Clause was no less shocking for Jack as it was for Bunny though, and the winter spirit also felt it difficult to respond to the overwhelming amount of love layered within the words of the large men meant for the both of them. Tooth smiled, and fluttered over, her multicolored wings dancing in the breeze her wings created.
"We are family," she said softly resting a delicate hand on each of the boy's shoulders "whether you know it or not."
"So," Jack coughed rubbing his cheeks to get rid of his blush "if North's our dad, then what…you're the mom?"
Aster smiled at the joke the winter spirit made in his attempt to dispel the awkward emotional moment. Tooth however was beside herself with joy at the idea, and her lavender eyes lit up with the concept presented to her.
"You bet," she grinned maliciously as she put both hands on her hips and laughed happily "and I intend to take my job seriously, which means I have full authority to ground you if I think you deserve it."
"Aw, come one," Aster groaned throwing a glare at Jack "ya just HAD ta give her that idea, didn't ya Snowflake?"
"Woops," Jack said with a bashful grin.
Sandy flew over, his face upset and his arms waving, sending pictures that clearly said 'What about me?'.
"That's easy Sandy," Aster chuckled "yer the eccentric Uncle that keeps the family in line."
Sandman's face stretched with the wide grin currently wreathed across it and he clapped his hands together, waving them on either side of his head like he had just won a prize. The image sent everyone into a giggle fit, and Jack and Bunny were laughing the hardest. Aster looked to his side, realization dawning on him on how important these people were, at least until he fell through his chair.
Like blue smoke, everything once again disappeared, and Bunny screamed reaching out for Jack and North but moaned in fear as his hands went through them and they also disappeared. Sitting on the ground, the Easter Bunny turned teen boy gazed on his surroundings, this time he was on a cliff edge in over a foot of snow completely exposed to the cutting wind of the North Pole. His breath coming in shallow gasps, the teen felt his heart beat in an erratic tempo, his mind whirling in panic. Throwing his arms around himself, Aster immediately began to shake violently, noting how his skin had already become deathly pale and was already adopting a bluish tinge.
"No, nonononononono" the former Pooka whimpered "not again, not again, please not again."
Clenching his eyes shut, the boy felt hot tears squeeze from underneath his eyelids, and freeze on his cheeks. Stumbling to his feet, the boy slowly made his way through the snow, the wind practically toppling him over in its rage. "N-North," he gasped through chattering teeth "J-J-Jack…T-Tooth…S-Someone…Help!"
A sob caught in his throat at the current predicament once again afflicting his senses "North…" he whispered in a broken sob "Somebody…anybody…"
Suddenly though Bunny found it hard to concentrate on the faces of those he wished to save him, and he found it difficult to remember just who they were. Why was this man North so important, and who was Jack? Bunny wracked his brain, trying to remember who he was, and how he had managed to get here in this cold wasteland again. Why did he keep ending up here? Surely a boy his age had a home, right?
At the word home, a vague picture formed in his mind of a group of people, but their faces were too fuzzy to make out who they were. Flashes of memory, a large fireplace, colored eggs, a mischievous grin accompanied by twinkling blue eyes. Who were these people? Aster didn't know, and the thought that he had forgotten something immensely important caused his heart to seize in fear. Why couldn't he remember?
Aster wandered aimlessly, never leaving the cliff edge, his body shivering more and more violently as each wave of trembling wracked his freezing frame. Wait, cold….something about being cold…and some kid…What did it all mean? With a cry of rage, the teen stomped his foot, frustrated at why he couldn't remember when the memories of who he was came rushing back to him, hitting him hard enough to make him stumble backwards a few feet.
"I'm…I'm the Easter Bunny," Aster said slowly in both wonder and fear that he had forgotten "My family is North, Jack, Tooth, and Sandy…I'm not human, I'm a Pooka."
Raising his hand to his mouth, Bunny chewed on his thumbnail in terrified anxiety, why had he forgotten? Pitch's words also came back to him, about how he would lose his memory, which meant that he would also start losing his memories as well as fading in and out "This is bad," the former Pooka murmured through chattering teeth "I need ta tell North."
Suddenly a fierce roaring caught him by surprise, and the teen turned around, only to stand face to face with a Polar Bear "Ohhh C-C-Crikey" he trembled green eyes growing wide with fear "It just got worse!"
Turning to run, Aster stumbled forward not expecting the vicious swipe of claws, grazing his back tearing through cloth and flesh, leaving a bloody trail. The former Pooka fell to the ground with a scream, his face buried in the snow as he clenched his teeth against any other pained cries. Looking behind him, he gasped at the hulking white beast, carrying its bulk across the snow at a surprising speed, and once again he clambered to his feet, hoping to find a place to hide, but there was none to be found. Labored breaths wheezed past blue lips, and wobbly legs shook from fear, pain, and cold. Falling to the ground, the teen cast tear filled green eyes at what would be his executioner, and just as the black claws swung down in their final blow, he screamed.
"NOOOOOOOOOOORTH!"
OOOH! How is THAT for a cliff hanger?!
Ok, I am working on Guest's request now, but I wanted to update this ASAP because I know you all are being so patient waiting for Human Bunny.